Climate and weather variability in sub-Saharan Africa disproportionately leave female-headed households food insecure. However, the extent and reasons for these gender differences are, thus far, not well understood. This study examines gender-food-climate connections using longitudinal data from rural households in north-eastern South Africa. Results confirm gender distinctions in that male-headed households are more food secure. Importantly, however, female-headed households are not a homogenous group.

This study examines the role of gender of the head of household on the
food security of small-scale subsistence farmers in urban and rural areas of
South Africa, using the exogenous switching treatment-effects regression
framework.

This paper looks at the impact of land restitution involving the Khomani San “bushmen” in the
Kgalagadi area of South Africa. It seeks to investigate the effect of land restitution on poverty
reduction among the beneficiaries. We run two-stage least squares models of access to nature, per
capita income and poverty status on the use of restituted land, among other variables. Our results
suggest that the Khomani San beneficiaries have gotten more access to natural resources but that

The EfD Report 2014/15 gives you an excellent overview of the EfD centres´ achievements during 2014 and ongoing work during 2015. Ranging from interesting policy stories on how economic research is put to use around the world to collaborative research programs, a wide range of publications, and our academic capacity building program.

The main objective of the study was to assess the economic value of Zambia’s forest ecosystem services. The study estimates that, when ecosystem services provided by forests are accounted for, forests make a direct contribution to the national economy equivalent to about 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), which rises to 6.3% with the application of multiplier effects.
Link to full report in pdf

This study examines the welfare effects of community plantations in Ethiopia via contingent valuation. Both single-bounded and double-bounded survey methods were considered, and, with respect to double-bounded methods, the potential for anomalous response behaviour was also taken into account. The results generally confirm that there are statistically significant welfare benefits to be derived from community forestry; however, the range of the estimated benefits is large.

This paper uses the water-reallocation scheme created within the National Water Act (1998) to analyze the impacts of water policy on farm livelihoods in South Africa. Based on one of the most water stressed catchments in the country, the Olifants river basin, we provide an integrated modeling approach combining water and agricultural modules to investigate the impacts of compulsory licensing and water market on crop production and investment made to improve water use efficiency.

In this paper we review current approaches and recent advances in research on climate impacts and adaptation in South Africa. South Africa has a well-developed earth system science research program that underpins the climate change scenarios developed for the southern African region. Established research on the biophysical impacts of climate change on key sectors (water, agriculture, and biodiversity) integrates the climate change scenarios but further research is needed in a number of areas, such as the climate impacts on cities and the built environment.

The majority of Africa is characterised by high levels of poverty, high population densities and limited economic development. Botswana is, however, different in having the highest gross domestic product per capita in Africa, relatively low population densities and high levels of socio-economic development. Inequality, however, remains high. A community-based natural resource management programme was introduced in 1989 to ensure that local communities benefit from the country's abundant natural resources, with the hope that they will then protect them.

Resource-poor rural South Africa is characterized by high human densities due to the historic settlement patterns imposed by apartheid, high levels of poverty, under-developed markets and substantially high food insecurity. This chronic food insecurity, combined with climate and weather variability, has led to the adoption of less-conventional adaptation methods in resource-poor rural settings.

As climate variability becomes more frequent, weather-related events such as poor rainfall, floods or storms are likely to be more common. Because the majority of small-scale sub-Saharan African farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture for food, any weather-related irregularities are likely to translate into food insecurity. This is more evident in resource-poor rural areas. This study examines the impact of weather-related crop failure and the coping mechanisms used by rural farm households.

Namibia's fishing industry is managed using a system of fishing rights and individual fishing quotas. This property rights system was intended to encourage the local fishing industry to exploit the resource responsibly. Unfortunately, unintended perverse incentives have promoted induced overcapacity and inefficient use of vessels. In combination with inconsistent quota allocations, the result has been persistent pressure on the already depleted biological resource. This paper uses a bio-economic model to estimate actual and potential profits in Namibia's hake fishery.

This paper examines dependence on environmental resources and impacts on household welfare among the indigenous San and Mier rural communities neighbouring Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. Data on the various household income types, including environmental income, were collected through a structured survey of 200 households. Environmental income constituted 20% of the total income. The poorest income quintile showed the highest relative dependence on environmental income (31%), though absolute environmental income increased with total income.

Resource-poor rural South Africa is characterised by high human densities due to the historic settlement patterns imposed by apartheid, high levels of poverty, under-developed markets and substantially high food insecurity. This chronic food insecurity combined with climate and weather variability has led to the adoption of less conventional adaptation methods in resource-poor rural settings. This paper examines the impact of agriculture-related shocks on the consumption patterns of rural households.

Forest tenure reforms are occurring in many developing countries around the world. These reforms typically include devolution of forest lands to local people and communities, which has attracted a great deal of attention and interest. While the nature and level of devolution vary by country, all have potentially important implications for resource allocation, local ecosystem services, livelihoods and climate change.

This study investigated the support for, and potential impacts of, alternative management measures to address declining fish stocks in the Breede River estuary. A survey of residents and visitors was carried out during 2011–2012.

This study measures the link between expected health and contextual health uncertainty on sexual behaviours associated with the risk of HIV infection. We extend similar studies on the subject by focusing on contextual factors as a way of explaining individual sexual behaviour in low and high HIV infection areas across sub-Saharan Africa.

This article reviews the history of the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative, its activities in capacity building and policy-oriented research, and case studies at its centres in Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

The hake (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) directed offshore demersal trawl is the most economically important fishing sector in South Africa, generating 30,000 jobs and comprising more than 50% of fisheries value. The industry changed to long term rights (LTRA), allocated in 2006 for a 15 year period. This study investigates the structure of the industry half-way between allocations.

This study reviews the nature and outcomes of policies, incentives and management procedures in the Namibian hake industry from independence in 1990 to the present. It is argued that, although based on individual quotas, Namibia’s post-independence management procedures have conflicted with the State’s commitment to efficiency.

We use inverse probability weighting to examine the effects of a unique two-pronged common-property forestry program in the Gimbo district of Ethiopia, which includes Joint Forestry Management and improved non-timber forest product marketing efforts. The program was found to have affected household access to agricultural land, and, thus, reduced livestock holdings, due to program strictures. Furthermore, despite those reductions, there is evidence that the program had economically significant effects on other activities.

Cooperation regarding the use of common pool resources can be difficult to achieve. Different management regimes may channel a resource’s benefits differently among users. This can be a problem when regulatory regimes are uniform in nature – in other words, when the same rules apply to everyone regardless of their different circumstances. To examine the role of this heterogeneity among resource users, we surveyed farmers in Tunisia about policies for managing groundwater pumping.

We examine the effect of the introduction of uniform water-charging for aquifer management and provide evidence using a survey-based choice experiment of agricultural water users in rural Tunisia. Theoretically, we show that the implementation of the proposed second-best regulation would result both in efficiency gains and in distributional effects in favour of small landholders. Empirically, we find that resistance to the introduction of an effective water-charging regime is greatest amongst the largest landholders.

This paper examines the impact of climate change on poor households across South Africa who practice subsistence farming to supplement their household income and dietary requirements. We consider three production systems: specialized crops, livestock and mixed crop-livestock farming.

In southern Africa, many early conservation efforts from the late 1800s and early 1900s either displaced local communities or restricted their access to natural resources. This naturally affected community attitudes towards protected areas and efforts were later made to rectify growing tensions. In the last few decades of the 20th century, these efforts led to conservation and ecotourism models that increasingly included communities in the decision-making and benefit-sharing process in order to garner their support.

The economic importance of the various attributes of dryland nature-based tourism in the Kgalagadi area is generally unknown, as is the distribution of benefits from such tourism. This study seeks to value selected attributes of nature-based tourism in the Kgalagadi area by applying the choice experiment technique and then assessing the potential for nature-based tourism to contribute to the Khomani San ‘bushmen’ livelihoods through a payment for ecosystem services scheme.

Given the considerable popularity of community-based wildlife management as a conservation tool, it is of interest to assess the long-run sustainability of this policy not only in conservation terms, but also in financial terms. In this paper, we use cost–benefit analysis to study the social and financial sustainability of a large set of community conservancies in Namibia, one of the few countries where community-based wildlife management policies have been in place long enough to assess their long-term viability.

Presently, the mountain gorilla in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is endangered, mainly by poaching and habitat loss. Revenue from gorilla tourism is shared with local communities, but the current scheme yields less-than-optimal conservation outcomes and therefore cannot be entrusted with long-term conservation. However, a performance-linked benefit sharing scheme, in which the park agency makes payments to the local community based on the increase in the gorilla population, can achieve socially optimal conservation.

Our results show that a preservation initiative that is aimed at increasing grazing and hunting opportunities would be supported by dryland communities. Although the Khomani San indigenous people are traditionally hunters and gatherers, over time a significant number have switched to livestock farming. Given that livestock farming is one of the main livelihood sources in the Kgalagadi dryland area, the Khomani San place a value on the ecosystem services that support their livelihood.

Visitors to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, located between Botswana and South Africa, are concerned about the kind of activities that take place within the park. This is not surprising, given the highly fragile Kgalagadi ecosystem. In our study, visitors assigned a monetary amount to the value they derive from pristine tourism opportunities. If this monetary value is greater than the amount that local communities assign to their livelihood activities in the park, then one group can compensate the other.

Now that some of the resource rights inside the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park have been vested in the surrounding communities, the park should contribute toward improving the lives of these communities, so that land restitution and conservation objectives can reinforce each other. In this spirit, the aim of this study was to estimate optimal conservation fees which should be charged at KTP to maximise revenue.

In this study, researchers met with Khomani San “bushmen” and Mier “agricultural” communities who live in or near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. The researchers proposed a biodiversity conservation programme that would include planting and protecting native trees, shrubs, and grasslands, and asked the local communities about their willingness to pay for the program.

International and domestic efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions require a coordinated effort from countries and individuals that differ in terms of their level of income, historical responsibility in terms of contributions to the existing stock of emissions, current intensity of energy use and costs of reducing emissions. This brief reports the results of an economic experiment that examines whether groups of individuals – who differ in terms of their individual costs of reducing emissions – can meet a collective emissions reduction target.

The illegal exploitation of wild abalone in South Africa has been escalating since 1994, despite increased enforcement, leading to collapse in some sections of its range. South Africa banned all wild abalone fishing in 2008 but controversially reopened the fishery in 2010. This paper formulates a poacher’s model, taking into account the realities of the abalone terrain in South Africa – the high-value of abalone, use of recreational drugs, the prevalence of bribery, and corruption – to explore why poaching has not subsided.

The economic importance of the dryland ecosystem services in the Kgalagadi area is generally unknown, as is the distribution of benefits from use of the ecosystem services. This study seeks to value ecosystem services in the Kgalagadi area by applying the choice experiment technique and then assessing the potential for ecosystem services to contribute to the Khomani San livelihoods through a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme.

This study seeks to value ecosystem services in the Kgalagadi area in South Africa by applying the choice experiment technique. The values placed on dryland ecosystem services by indigenous communities are estimated using a conditional logit model, a random parameter logit model and a random parameter logit model with interactions.

This paper provides an overview of social science research in the marine environment of South Africa for the period 1994–2012. A bibliography based on a review of relevant literature and social science projects funded under the SEAChange programme of the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR) was used to identify nine main themes that capture the knowledge generated in the marine social science field. Within these themes, a wide diversity of topics has been explored, covering a wide geographic area.

This book is about land tenure policies from an international perspective. It adds on the first book published by Holden and Otsuka entitled The Emergence of Land Markets in Africa: Assessing the Impacts on Poverty, Equity, and Efficiency (2009) in a much deeper way with a stronger and clearer focus on policy issues.

Rural Malawi is largely characterised by high levels of poverty, unemployment and high population densities. It is also seen as the ‘warm heart of Africa’, which, together with its abundant natural resources, makes it an excellent destination for international ecotourists. This paper looks at the impact of ecotourism employment on poverty reduction and the flow of ecotourism income into the villages adjacent to Liwonde National Park. Extensive questionnaire surveys were conducted with staff employed in ecotourism as well as with rural households in the villages adjacent to the Park.

Tourism in southern Africa is based on the region’s wildlife and nature assets and is generally environmentally sustainable, but the extent to which it contributes to other aspects of sustainable development — overall income generation or poverty eradication — is less well explored.

Presently, the mountain gorilla in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is endangered mainly by poaching and habitat loss. This paper sets out to investigate the possible resolution of poaching involving the local community by using benefit sharing schemes with local communities. Using a bioeconomic model, the paper demonstrates that the current revenue sharing scheme yields suboptimal conservation outcomes.